Taft-Hartley Trust Funds

Taft-Hartley
Trust Funds are plans established under section 302 of the Taft-Hartley Act of
1947. Each fund is formed as a result of a collective bargaining agreement.
These plans are also referred to multi-employers funds, Taft-Hartley trusts,
joint trusts, jointly trusted plans, ERISA trust funds and labor-management
employees benefit plans. They have one important common feature; they are
administered by boards of trustees on which labor and management are equally
represented.

Jointly
trusted plans are common when a group of employers, usually in the same
industry, join together with the unions with which they have bargaining
agreements, to establish a multi-employer trust. Jointly trusted plans are
common in the construction industry (bricklayers, electricians, and laborers),
retail industry (united food and commercial workers) and the trucking and
warehouse industry (teamsters).

The Trustees
of the plans are charged with determining what types of benefits will be
included in the plan. Payments of these benefits are made from a trust which is
funded by employer contributions established through negotiations. Funding also
comes from income through investments made with the assets of the trust.

Contributions are made by each employer in the fund
on behalf of each of its covered employees.